Would Royal twins test the Government's new rules of succession?

Planned change in the rules of succession allowing eldest girl to accede to
the throne

The Duchess meets James William Davis, a five-month-old baby named after her husband
Photo: AFP/Getty Images

7:00AM GMT 05 Dec 2012

SIR – Congratulations to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on their expected baby. But what do the rules of succession say if it is twins?

Hyperemesis gravidarum can be an indication of a twin pregnancy (report, December 4). So, with the planned change in the rules of succession allowing an eldest girl to accede to the throne, regardless of whether she has a younger brother, perhaps it is just which one pops out first.

Is there any precedent for this in our royal history, or that of another country?

Rev Nick Weldon North Tawton, Devon

SIR – Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, is working on ways to disband the custom of male primogeniture. This would require an Act of Parliament, passing into law by Royal Assent.

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The Bill of Rights regulates government and any use of prerogative power, most particularly that of Royal Assent. Is this constitutional regulation merely to be ignored or set aside as inconvenient?

The rule of law is at stake. It must be maintained at all costs. The law that controls the use of prerogative power denies such authority to the Crown.

If the Queen were to give Royal Assent to an Act of Parliament changing the rules of succession, she would be breaking her Coronation Oath and thus have to abdicate. There is precedence for this principle, which was followed by the King of Belgium in 1999. An abdication must cause an election.

If these principles are violated, the executive may use them as precedence to accrue any power at any time.

John Bingley Flansham, West Sussex

SIR – If the Duchess of Cambridge is to give birth to twins, perhaps they could rule the country together: one in the morning and one in the afternoon, as in Gilbert and Sullivan's opera The Gondoliers.

Philip Tucker Brighton, East Sussex

SIR – The Duchess might consider the name of one of the Princess Royal's children, Zara – in the Bible a twin with Pharez. They figure among the ancestors of Jesus. The midwife made sure which was the first born by tying a red thread round its arm.

Sarah Johnson London SW3

SIR – Harry Mount writes that the Duchess of Cambridge's pregnancy is the perfect end to the year (Comment, December 4). I hope that the child inherits the wisdom, dedication and unflappable competence of the present incumbent. If they do, we will be fortunate indeed.

Philip Gibson Purley, Surrey

SIR – If the Duchess of Cambridge has a girl, and that girl does go on to become queen, then what are the chances of her being crowned by a female archbishop of Canterbury?